UPPER PROVIDENCE — The bean gets top billing over the leaf, but coffee and tea are evenly matched co-headliners at the Coffee & Tea Festival coming to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center at Oaks this weekend.

For the 3,000 attendees expected at the first staging of the wildly successful event outside of New York City, the two distinctive potables with similar buzz potential are actually more like two peas in a pod than you might think.

“We find that people may be a little more interested in coffee, but the coffee isn’t necessarily always there, because it takes the coffee industry a little more time to organize, as far as electrical needs and things like that, so people are really getting more interested in tea due to its availability at the show,” explained Kristyn Dolan, marketing manager for the show’s producer, Starfish Junction Productions.

Many will know the Starfish name from its orchestration of the highly anticipated Valley Forge Beer Fest held at the Expo Center the last couple of winters.

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Now the New York-based company is hoping to repeat that success with two different kinds of brews, as it brings the award-winning, Food Network-featured festival to the suburbs.

“We’ve been in New York City for the last eight years and people have been requesting that we bring it more to the Mid-Atlantic area, and the Expo Center was very interested in having us, so we’re hoping for the same outcome in the Philadelphia area and a whole new audience there,” Dolan said.

The intoxicating aromas of high-end joe in its many forms, and tea in all its black, green, white, oolong and herbal glory will fill the massive space through dozens of vendors offering samples and selling their wares during the two-day extravaganza.

Honest Tea, Bare Tea, Coffee Ale House, Salada, Owl’s Brew, Tea Time, Maui Wowi Hawaiian and Capital Teas are just a smattering of the merchants who will be on hand.

Goody bags stuffed with product samples will be given to the first 1,500 attendees each day.

Sweet and savory foods that pair well with coffee or tea — i.e. anything edible, to most aficionados of either beverage — will be available to tasters for the admission price.

Other culinary matches, such as cheese and tea, will be offered for an additional charge.

RedCo Foods will provide a behind the scenes glimpse into the making of its Red Rose and Salada teas.

“Both Salada and Red Rose have maintained their iconic and distinctive blends for over 125 years,” said CEO Debo Mukherjee. “Making sure that the blend is consistent from year to year requires a deft palate, in-depth knowledge of the growers and the growing conditions, and an unwavering commitment to quality.”

A portion of the event’s proceeds will be donated to Cup for Education, a non-profit organization that helps poor, rural coffee communities of Central and Latin America build schools within their communities, while providing them with teachers and tools to educate future generations of coffee farmers.

Not surprisingly, many Coffee & Tea Festival patrons are purists down to their deeply-caffeinated hearts.

“The people who attend our event love coffee and tea, and what they love most is tasting them without added sugar or milk or cream,” Dolan said. “They’re looking for different aspects — the flavor, the bitterness, whatever it may be, versus just drinking it. They’re looking for gourmet artisanal brands, local brands or the ones where they can figure out where the coffee and tea is being sourced, so they can define the taste that they’re looking for.”

The longtime local roaster and wholesale provider of coffee has branched out into leafy possibilities as Maja Tei, a line of 14 teas — all of which will be available at the show, noted the company’s Irene Satterwhite.

“We have been to the show in New York so we were excited to hear that the show is coming here,” she said,

A stop at the Café Excellence space will give tasters the chance to critique the new ultra-dark roast called Onyx, as well as that ubiquitous fall favorite Pumpkin Spice and the Christmas-Eve-conjuring Mistletoe.

Those craving a relaxing, flavorful cup after dinner minus the jitters will be happy to know the latter roasts also come decaffeinated.